Bodhisattva Guṇākara (’Root of Virtue’) asks about the ‘Characteristics of all Dharmas’ 諸法相
Three natures of all things:
- Totally imaginary - parikalpita
- Establishing conventional names for things and distinguishing their self-natures (svabhava)
- Arising in dependence upon another - paratantra
- The dependently originated nature of all things
- Complete, perfect reality pariniṣpanna
- The equanimous, Real Suchness of all things
“If bodhisattvas are able to understand, as they really are, all dharmas totally imaginary characteristics, they then will be able to understand, as it really it, the characteristiclessness of things.”
“If bodhisattvas are able to understand, as it really is, the characteristic of arising in dependence upon another, they then will be able to understand, as it really is, the defilement of all things.”
“If bodhisattvas are able to understand, as it really is, the characteristic of complete, perfect reality, they then will be able to understand, as it really is, the purity of all things.”